Playing The Player

:Chapter Six:

After spending the two whole nights thinking about it, I had decided that the almost-kiss was a mistake on his behalf.

Simple as that.

I mean, everyone made mistakes. It was human. Natural. The reason why we make mistakes is so we can learn from them. And after getting four hours of sleep for the past two days, I'd learned that almost kissing someone who liked your twin sister lead to nights tossing and turning, unable to find peace, unable to fall asleep.

It sounded reasonable, the whole mistakes thing, I thought, as I walked into homeroom with Courtney, my mind straying away from the conversation. We had started walking to school together; she lived a few streets closer to the school, and I figured out that if I took a left turn here and a right here, it only took a few minutes longer to reach her house. Yes, I had just given you a description on how to get from my place to hers.

"So what's been happening?" She asked , giving me an inquisitive look, "I mean, there's obviously something on your mind."

I looked down on our hands. "Just stuff. I couldn't sleep last night," I admitted.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," She said slowly, slightly hesitating. That was odd itself; Courts was usually extremely straightforward. There was no I'm-not-sure's or maybe's with her. "But if you do, I'll listen and I promise not to judge. We're best friends, after all, right?"

We're best friends, after all, right? This simple question had a huge impact on me. I'd never had a best friend before; though I had a number of close friends, I always preferred staying home and re-watching television shows online rather than shopping with friends. It wasn't that my friends hated me because I chose not to hang out with them, it was more like they didn't really have a chance to connect with me. And I hadn't really cared. But there was something about being Courtney's best friend that made me smile, that made me want to be a good best friend. Which meant I had to be honest with her.

"BlakeandialmostkissedonSaturday," I let out in a breath. Wow, that felt good.

Courtney looked baffled. "Say what?"

"Blake almost..." I hesitated myself before pushing on, "He almost kissed me on Saturday."

She looked stunned. "Wow."

"Yeah." Suddenly, I remembered something she had mentioned before. "I forgot all about the breaking his heart thing!"

"Oh, that," Courtney laughed, brushing it off, "That was just an easy test, if you would do something for a friend."

Stunned realisation dawned on me. "Oh."

"Yeah," Courtney said easily, "So you and him, huh? That's so cute!"

I shook my head. "It really isn't as simple as that. He doesn't like me. He likes Nina."

"Doesn't seem that way," Courtney said, unconvinced.

"Well, it's true," I said, as the bell rang, signalling the end of homeroom, "And I have to find him now, so I'll see you later."

Courtney nodded a goodbye to me as I walked down the hallway to Blake's homeroom. Was he even at school? God knows he skips half the time; that's another reason why he'd be so perfect for Nina; she skipped as well. I imagined them sneaking off the grounds together, going to the cinemas, making out at the back...

"What's up with you, sweetheart? Your face is all screwed up."

Abruptly, I turned and saw the only person would say that to me. "You really should be more polite, you know," I scowled at Blake.